BTCC 2014: Donington Park

Our first PHer BTCC race report comes from a very wet and windy Donington Park

Here we have our first roving reporter, er, report on the BTCC from a PHer. Andy Swift went along to Donington for PH yesterday and here we have his racing overview. We'll be in contact soon for our Thruxton correspondent and any entries are still welcome (email matthew.bird@haymarket.com with your name and preferred round). Big thanks to Andy also!

It's a murky, overcast Easter Sunday - the perfect day to scoff chocolate and relax on the couch enjoying a day of racing on the telly. Why, then, did so many enthusiasts pour into Donington Park for the second round of the 2014 British Touring Car Championship rather than enjoying the comprehensive coverage on ITV4? With queues of modified hatchbacks stretching out all the way to the M1 and the rain falling, many of those enthusiasts probably found themselves asking the same question.

Donington provided another great day's racing

A major draw for the crowds was the welcome return of BTCC past masters Alain Menu and Fabrizio Giovanardi, their arrival lifting the total number of former champions on the grid to seven. Menu first raced in the BTCC while current champion Andrew Jordan was still in short trousers, setting up the prospect of a fascinating season-long battle between youth and experience.

Experience won out during qualifying, Jason Plato annexing pole with the quickest-ever BTCC lap of Donington Park. This set the tone for MG domination in the first two races - both held in tricky drying conditions - with Plato heading team mate Tordoff in race one and the positions reversed in race two.

There was the usual BTCC chaos behind the MG drivers, with plenty of panel damage and a smattering of safety cars. Regular PistonHeads forum contributor Ollie Jackson suffered the ignominy of prolonging the second safety car period during race two by depositing his steaming, and apparently terminally broken, Proton right on the apex of the chicane. You half expected him to emerge from his reluctant mount and attack it with a branch in true Basil Fawlty style, such was the slapstick timing of its demise.

Plenty of action at the Craners again

Race one was all about tyre management, with the whole field nursing their delicate wet tyres as the track dried. Darling of the crowds, Rob 'Roberto Austini' Austin took the risk of pitting for slicks on lap three. His gamble wasn't to pay off in terms of absolute results but his fight back up through the order gave the crowd the dramatic underdog narrative it has come to expect from Austin - and fastest lap to boot.

While neither of these opening encounters was a BTCC classic, the sheer spectacle of the current cars is worth the entrance fee in its own right. Lacking the sabre-sharp dynamics of the legendary Super Tourers of the 1990s they may be, but these are expressive cars. Bucking and bouncing around with belches of flame from their side-exit exhausts, they can slide as well with the odd dab of oppo to please the crowds.

So, interesting strategy, multiple champions, fierce racing and unpredictable weather; what else does the BTCC offer to spectators in 2014? Well, the world's fastest lawnmower performing demo laps for starters. Honda brought along its 116mph ride-on mower, creating a noise more reminiscent of motorcycle racing than a genteel horticultural activity. Then there are the grid girls - you too can make awkward small talk with an attractive lady half your age while posing for a cringe-worthy photo.

MGs dominated the first two races

It was all to play for in race three, with blue skies poking through the clouds and all drivers running soft tyres on a dry track. By then the howling winds and intermittent showers had depleted the crowds, but those who stuck around - and there were plenty of them - were treated to a thriller. Colin Turkington looked a certain winner but 'Flash' Gordon Shedden had other ideas. Shedden snatched second place from Jason Plato and immediately closed on the leader at the rate of a second per lap.

By the start of the final tour he was right up with Turkington and the pair went into combat. It was all about the chicane - last corner of the last lap. Shedden braved it out around the outside, Turkington defended, the pair vaulted the kerbs and skated across gravel together with Shedden emerging ahead to give the new Civic Tourer its first win, under appropriately contentious circumstances. It was classic BTCC. Subtlety, regulatory purity and saintly driving have no place here. This is motor racing for the masses and the masses love it - come rain or shine.